The app updates just keep coming. Joining Maps, Translate, and Wallet on the list of updated Google apps today, YouTube got a bump to 5.5.26, an update which brought with it several UI tweaks, and a new icon. Actually, the icon appears to be a mistake. Google has shipped out the Dogfood version of YouTube, meant for internal testing. As such, the updated app has a previously unseen "dogfood" settings screen with a few options related to "ExoPlayer."

Elsewhere, there are considerable UI tweaks that appear to represent a move toward higher information density, and an effort to put things where users will find them more naturally.

User pages in the new update have been revamped from a series of cards to one giant card on the "Videos," "Playlists," and new "Channels" tabs. The information has been condensed a la Newsstand's mini cards to allow users to see more content at once. See below for a comparison - old screenshots on top, new on the bottom.

Also of note is a slight transformation of the hamburger navigation menu. The newly updated YouTube expands Playlists from a menu entry to an actual list of your playlists right in the sidebar. There's also a new "best of" list underneath your subscriptions, replacing "From YouTube" which appeared there before. The menu still provides quick access to offerings from a variety of genres, but the UI and organization has been spit-polished.

Speaking of playlists, users can now view information, thumbs-up, share, or delete playlists from the playlist overview page. Of course, you can only delete a playlist that is your own.

One last tidbit - flagging videos has been dragged out into an individual video's overflow menu, which previously only provided an HD toggle and a CC toggle.

Users can also reply to or report comments now.

Under the hood, there's not too much of interest (that we've seen, anyway). There are however a bunch of new offline-related strings, giving users the option to store offline content to an SD card, prompting them to insert one if they haven't already.

Update: Google has now rolled out version 5.5.27, removing the dogfood options and reverting the "best of" list, and rolling back individual users' pages to how they were before (with big cards rather than compressed lists). This APK is also available for download below.

The official Android Developers Google+ page has also given a wink to users in a new post.

Download

5.5.26

This APK is signed by Google and upgrades your existing app. The cryptographic signature guarantees that the file is safe to install and was not tampered with in any way. Rather than wait for Google to push this download to your devices, which can take days, download and install it just like any other APK.

5.5.27

This APK is also signed by Google and upgrades your existing app. The cryptographic signature guarantees that the file is safe to install and was not tampered with in any way. Rather than wait for Google to push this download to your devices, which can take days, download and install it just like any other APK.

Do you guys know whether the code to play music in background is still in the YouTube source code (from YouTube 5.2.27)?

Lalit Mali

or the related strings?

Al McDowall

Now THAT is progress! I've missed this since the G+ tie in (I think it was there before) Very good to know it is back in

ashclepdia

I don't recall it ever being there before. If you tapped a Comment it would highlight as if it were a button, but never did anything :/
Trust me, been asking for long time for this lol

ashclepdia

Yea I was STOKED to see this.
Now need a way to refresh comments AND get motifs of replies without having to go into g+....
I been asking them directly for months for the reply to comments ability... So happy to see the brought it in

Jason Davis

It's been corrected. A new version 5.5.27 is now available.

Severo Rivera

5.5.27 puts everything back to normal.

Jason Davis

This is now fixed.
5.5.27 is now rolling out.

blakew595

How do you look at the automotive section now since update

dogtube

What People Think About In The Shower?

much wow.

Alonso Tucati

The best thing about this article was the pretty face asking this question

KJ7409

Is connecting to chromecast not working for anyone else? tried on HTC One, N7, and web, none would connect.

aboshhiib

New update for YouTube v.5.5.27 removed godfood

David Margolin

what does god eat?

pfmiller

Ambrosia. Probably pizza too, like everyone else.

Guest

Of, why the popup when you click on open source licence is gingerbread themed?...

anzensepp1987

Probably bacon.

Guest

It also removed the condensed view of the videos and playlists. I hope it homes back :

Android Developer

what's "godfood" ?

Kevin

In my nexus 4 it refuses to open :/

jjrudey

Same here on Nexus 5. Updated from Play Store.

Spasillium

Same on Nexus 4 with 4.4.2. Using Viral for now.

Kevin

Update: The Youtube AdAway module was the one making it crash.

idi

Thank you for coming back and posting this. I couldn't figure out why mine wouldn't open for days. I disabled the Youtube AdAway module and its fine now :)

Cool, now when I channel put some kind of icon on their videos it is not like real big anymore on mobile, it's small and you only see on lean back mode. It was way to big before the update.

Adam Dominiak

So when the background audio is coming ?

SSDROiD

Patience, my friend.

Badouken

I've been wondering this as well... For a second I thought everyone forgot about this feature... They teased it months ago...

dani

My "playlists" not showing completely. Anybody figured it out how to get access to all lists?

pfmiller

Since the update when I play videos that are preloaded they are playing at what looks like the absolute lowest quality possible and there is no option to switch to HD. I had to disabled preloading for now. Anyone else having this problem?

SSDROiD

Am I the only one who started receiving push notifications of new videos from my subscriptions with this newest update? It's not mentioned here...

Fatal1ty_93_RUS

Still no background play?

Good_Ole_Pinocchio

Why would they do that?

Fatal1ty_93_RUS

So that I could launch a video that that only has important audio (such as podcasts), go back to home and start growing while listening to the audio. Actually a useful thing

Good_Ole_Pinocchio

You do know that various podcast apps have the videos available too...right? That's not what Youtube is for.

Nick

So please tell us what Youtube is for exactly. You seem to really know your stuff.

Good_Ole_Pinocchio

To WATCH videos. Not play music in the background to help you avoid paying for it.

Nick

I'm pretty sure the main purpose of YouTube is to consume media. Whether it be a video, song, podcast, Game play, Documentary, Comedy skit is not important.

Have you ever heard of the YouTube channel Vevo? The entire point of the channel is to...as you phrased it, "play music in the background to help you avoid paying for it." Totally legit and they are doing incredibly well.

CrazyTrond

The iOS version had the feature for years bro, the Android app is lagging behind. It's being implemented so just shut up.

ben jacobs

hey guys just giving you all a heads up this update is completely unusable for galaxy note 3 roms running kitkat the second i updated youtube force closes every time the app tries to open

taz89

So all the things I was looking forward to like the more condensed view is gone.. Ffs it is pathetic that you can only see 2 cars at a time on a tablet. Completely bad use of space.

merman1983

I just don't see myself using the official app till I can choose my startup screen (Subscriptions instead of "What to Watch") and I want to be able to choose a default account so I don't have to select one every time I fire up the app.

merman1983

I just don't see myself using the official app till I can choose my startup screen (Subscriptions instead of "What to Watch") and I want to be able to choose a default account so I don't have to select one every time I fire up the app.

ashclepdia

Reply directly to comments from IN app is AWESOME.
I've been sending in feedback to them and tweeting @youtube and others requesting this a LOT recently! Huzzah!!!!
Now it's time to start requesting for a "pull to refresh" or refresh button for comments section. And maybe notifications in YOUTUBE app for replies to your comments instead of having to open G+ to find them (though I doubt THIS one will ever come to fruition unless they do a kind of melding between two apps g+ and YT.)

Just need the offline viewing to become usable along with background playback and having it so that if you leave app and come back(without YT leaving cached apps) that the already buffered part of video STAYS buffered. (Or at LEAST for if you COMMENT it doesn't HAVE to reload what was ALREADY loaded because it lost the buffered part....ugh so friggin ANNOYING!!!!)